Frammenti di Danza, 1982

For this edition, Jannis Kounellis employed a process-based method that places the fragility and transience of the material at its core. In the print studio, he exposed glass panes to open flames, giving their surfaces a smoky patina and, in some cases, causing them to fracture into shards. He then drew directly into the soot-blackened layer with his fingers, creating an immediate, almost gestural trace of his artistic handwriting. Finally, metal printing plates were coated with a photosensitive layer onto which the treated glass or botanical elements were placed and exposed to light – a technique that powerfully reflects Jannis Kounellis’ characteristic interplay of materiality, impermanence, and pictorial immanence.